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Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

Truthseeker

Non-debating member when I can help myself
It's My Birthday!
Blessed [are] they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
(NKJV, Matthew 5:4)

..Blessed [are ye] that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
(NKJV, Luke 6:21)

..Woe to you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
(NKJV, Luke 6:25)

There is a difference between being comforted and laughing. One is about God reaching down in compassion and giving a certain spirituality to those mourning.

But will all be comforted? You become more sensitive to spiritual things if you are turning to God. It doesn't mean that you are no longer mourning at the moment it appears to me. The Luke verse seems to about recompense for mourning later on by us laughing. Is one accurate while one is not? We have to be careful about reading into every word a certainty of every word written down years after Christ says them. The Matthew and Luke versions are similar, but to me, the Matthew one seems more true to real life.

The Luke 6:25 quote doesn't seem right, or is an incomplete quote. Obviously everybody that laughs now is not punished by God and they shall mourn and weep. Is this getting at laughing or enjoying yourself at the expense of others? We'll never really know for sure, but personally this seems suspect as at least exactly what Christ said.

Adversity is followed by success and rejoicings follow woe.
(Baha'u'llah: Tablets of Baha'u'llah, page 138)

This seems to say that God recompenses people who have adversity with success and woe with rejoicings. It also implies probably that adversity teaches how to succeed. In many cases the rejoicing would be in the next life, I would think.

Caiaphas lived a comfortable and happy life while Peter's life was full of sorrow and trial; which of these two is the more enviable? Assuredly we should choose the present state of Peter, for he possesses immortal life whilst Caiaphas has won eternal shame. The trials of Peter tested his fidelity. Tests are benefits from God, for which we should thank Him. Grief and sorrow do not come to us by chance, they are sent to us by the Divine Mercy for our own perfecting.

While a man is happy he may forget his God; but when grief comes and sorrows overwhelm him, then will he remember his Father who is in Heaven, and who is able to deliver him from his humiliations.

Men who suffer not, attain no perfection. The plant most pruned by the gardeners is that one which, when the summer comes, will have the most beautiful blossoms and the most abundant fruit.
(`Abdu'l-Baha: Paris Talks*, pages 50-51)

The only reason for testing our fidelity of our faith that I can see is that when we fail that fidelity we can then mend our ways. If we don't mend our ways after failing, then we have truly failed. As He says “Tests are benefits from God, for which we should thank Him.” We should thank Him because “they are sent to us by the Divine Mercy for our own perfecting.” A little out of context, I know. Grief and sorrow are among those tests. It is not exclusive to grief and sorrow.

What does He mean by not sent by chance? One thing to remember is that the Paris Talks are verbal things 'Abdu'l-Baha said that strictly speaking are not authoritative. Some translator conveyed what He said on the spot. How accurate is that translation? Was the translation immediately written down, or remembered later? All questions I don't have the answer to.

18 O SON OF SPIRIT!
Ask not of Me that which We desire not for thee, then be content with what We have ordained for thy sake, for this is that which profiteth thee, if therewith thou dost content thyself.
(The Hidden Words)
www.bahai.org/r/172973975

This doesn't answer the question, in my opinion, about whether all trials are not sent by chance. This just says to me some things are ordained for us.

Certain matters are subject to the free will of man, such as acting with justice and fairness, or injustice and iniquity—in other words, the choice of good or evil actions. It is clear and evident that the will of man figures greatly in these actions.
(Some Answered Questions)
www.bahai.org/r/550346255

Logically, if we all have free will, then when someone else tests us with his actions, that all tests or grief and sorrow is not sent by God. It is sent by the person acting that way towards us. God gave us that free will. It in no way impinges on his omnipotence.

`Does the soul progress more through sorrow or through the joy in this world?'

Abdu'l-Baha. - `The mind and spirit of man advance when he is tried by suffering. The more the ground is ploughed the better the seed will grow, the better the harvest will be. Just as the plough furrows the earth deeply, purifying it of weeds and thistles, so suffering and tribulation free man from the petty affairs of this worldly life until he arrives at a state of complete detachment. His attitude in this world will be that of divine happiness. Man is, so to speak, unripe: the heat of the fire of suffering will mature him. Look back to the times past and you will find that the greatest men have suffered most.'

`He who through suffering has attained development, should he fear happiness?'

Abdu'l-Baha. - `Through suffering he will attain to an eternal happiness which nothing can take from him. The apostles of Christ suffered: they attained eternal happiness.'

`Then it is impossible to attain happiness without suffering?'

Abdu'l-Baha. - `To attain eternal happiness one must suffer. He who has reached the state of self-sacrifice has true joy. Temporal joy will vanish.' (`Abdu'l-Baha: Paris Talks*, pages 178-179)

Suffering is part of our trials in this life. We can fail or pass this trial or fail. If we fail, we can learn from that. However, if we don't learn from that, the suffering is just a calamity in our life.

It is clear, then, that tests and trials are, for sanctified souls, but God’s bounty and grace, while to the weak, they are a calamity, unexpected and sudden.
(Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l Bahá)
www.bahai.org/r/412743969

It all depends on our attitude about our failure. I'll say no more, anything else I can say is conjecture and is complicated.

We can be purified by our suffering, or not. We can become detached from our suffering, or not. We could be overwhelmed by our suffering, and be badly affected, and it may not be very much our fault. However, if that is true we will get recompensed.

Say: Concourse of believers, be patient at what has befallen you and be not anxious concerning the harm and suffering that have afflicted you. He shall bestow full recompense upon the long-suffering.
Bahá’u’lláh, “City of Radiant Acquiescence”

O SON OF MAN!
My calamity is My providence, outwardly it is fire and vengeance, but inwardly it is light and mercy. Hasten thereunto that thou mayest become an eternal light and an immortal spirit. This is My command unto thee, do thou observe it.(Baha'u'llah: Arabic Hidden Words, no. 51)

When we have a calamity in our lives, it is difficult to bear, and we will mourn the calamity in some cases, but inwardly God will give us light and mercy, which is a comfort to us, which directly ties to the Matthew verse.

...the trials which beset our every step, all our sorrow, pain, shame and grief, are born in the world of matter; whereas the spiritual Kingdom never causes sadness. A man living with his thoughts in this Kingdom knows perpetual joy. The ills all flesh is heir to do not pass him by, but they only touch the surface of his life, the depths are calm and serene.

It is the spiritual world ultimately which comforts us, and causes joy underneath that sorrow.

Today, humanity is bowed down with trouble, sorrow and grief, no one escapes; the world is wet with tears; but, thank God, the remedy is at our doors. Let us turn our hearts away from the world of matter and live in the spiritual world! It alone can give us freedom! If we are hemmed in by difficulties we have only to call upon God, and by His great Mercy we shall be helped.

If sorrow and adversity visit us, let us turn our faces to the Kingdom and heavenly consolation will be outpoured...

Spiritual consolation will be outpoured to us if and only if we we turn our “faces” to the “Kingdom”. A “face” is where our attributes are displayed.

I, myself was in prison forty years - one year alone would have been impossible to bear - nobody survived that imprisonment more than a year! But, thank God, during all those forty years I was supremely happy! Every day, on waking, it was like hearing good tidings, and every night infinite joy was mine. Spirituality was my comfort, and turning to God was my greatest joy. If this had not been so, do you think it possible that I could have lived through those forty years in prison?
(`Abdu'l-Baha: Paris Talks*, pages 110-112)

'Abdu'l-Baha is not a regular human being, He has an access to spirituality and God that we don't have. Nevertheless, this shows that a degree of happiness can be ours during difficult times.

O SON OF MAN!
Sorrow not save that thou art far from Us. Rejoice not save that thou art drawing near and returning unto Us.
(Baha'u'llah: Arabic Hidden Words, no. 35)

This goes further that being comforted while mourning, at least seemingly. But when you look at the Bab mourning for months when His leading disciples were martyred, and also other selections, you realize that while you may be mourning, overall you can be joyful at the same time if you are close to God. Also this makes clear there is a condition for being comforted while calamity is going on, being close to God. The Matthew verse is incomplete in that regard. It doesn't make clear yet about this condition for being comforted.
 
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